Quote:In the end, the driving force that took West Virginia out of the Big East and landed it in the Big 12 was the $1.5-billion television deal that conference swung with Fox and ESPN and the stability that that came with all members ceding those rights to the league for 13 years.

It meant WVU would have nearly $20 million a year coming in from television of its football games.

It wasn’t always that way and Jay Randolph may have more to do that with anyone else, including even Oliver Luck and Jim Clements.

You have to go back, for Jay Randolph is 77 now and has just been elected to the Missouri Broadcasters Hall of Fame for his a career that saw him go from calling Babe Ruth League games in Clarksburg to doing such events as the Olympics, the Breeder’s Cup, NFL football, major league baseball and the PGA Tour.

He works now out of St. Louis, but this was not always the case for this son of longtime U.S. Senator Jennings Randolph.